‘Buddhism tell us that the kind of seed sown will produce that kind of fruit. Those who do good will reap good results. Those who do evil will reap evil results. If you carefully plant a good seed, you will joyfully gather good fruit. How can a religion that tells us to do good deeds be bad?’ asked Alissa.
‘There is something good to be found in all faiths, Vincent. The problem has never been belief but the deliberate misinterpretation and misuse of it,’ said Swakilki thoughtfully. ‘And yet, all humankind believes redemption awaits us when our souls arise and merge with that Greatest Soul of all. That is the true resurrection. If this universal oneness could be understood by all, there would be no conflict at all!’
Vincent suddenly saw a light at the end of the long, dark, tunnel of violence he’d been running through, scared, for an eternity, it seemed to him. He fell to his knees before the three women. When he looked up again, there was only One.
Notes, Acknowledgements and References
1 The Rozabal Tomb does exist. See Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion by Holger Kersten, Penguin, 2001.
2 The Lashkar-e-Toiba does exist. The Lashkar-e-Talatashar is fictional.
3 Inspired by speeches of Osama-bin-Laden, although not attributed to him. See Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama-bin-Laden edited by Bruce Lawrence, translated by James Howarth, Verso, 2005.
4 The words used in both English and Latin for confession have been taken from an online article on the subject located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession
5 Bank Leu is indeed the oldest Swiss bank. The character of Egloff, however, is fictional.
6 The character Dmitriy Novikov is fictional. However, his achievements are based upon the real-life figure of Nicolas Notovitch, the nineteenth-century explorer/researcher, who wrote The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, Leaves of Healing Publications, 1990.
7 As recounted in Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion by Holger Kersten, Penguin, 2001.
8 Much of the Islamic rituals and customs are taken from The Absolute Essentials of Islam by Faraz Rabbani, White Thread Press.
9 Taken from an online article by Shachi Rairikar at http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=69&page=17
10 See Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10th, 2001 by Steve Coll, Penguin, 2004.
11 Asahara Shoko is fact. A very well-written online biography is available at http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/aums.html. Takuya is fictional.
12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yigal_Amir
13 A great deal of information was derived on this subject from The Jesus Papers by Michael Baigent, Harper, 2006.
14 While Opus Dei and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross are real in every sense, the Crux Decussata Permuta is purely fictional.
15 Throughout this book, I have utilised travel information such as flight numbers, arrival and departure information, etc. The process of getting this information was effortless because of www.travelocity.com
16 A wealth of information about the Archdiocese of New York, the seminaries and the cardinals is available online at their official website http://www.archny.org/
17 I have extensively used the online Bible resources provided at http://www.biblegateway.com/
18 The entire joke was taken from http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/drlaura.htm
19 A great deal of information on the White House, historical and biographical information on American Presidents, etc., was obtained at http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html
20 http://www.forgotten-ny.com/CEMETERIES/Hidden%20cemeteries/hidcem.html
21 See The Light on Pranayama: The Yogic Art of Breathing by B.K.S. Iyengar, Crossroad General Interest, 1985.
22 See The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation: As Taught by
S.N. Goenka by William Hart, Harper San Francisco, 1987.
23 I found excellent discussions on the issue of reincarnation theory in Christianity online at http://www.comparativereligion.com/reincarnation3.html
24 http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9372767
25 A wonderful history of the East End of London and Lesney’s Matchbox Factory is to be had at http://www.eastlondonhistory.com/lesney.htm
26 See Cecil Rhodes by Sarah Gertrude Millin, Simon Publications, 2001.
27 See America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones by Antony C. Sutton, Trine Day.
28 See http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/Illuminati.htm
29 The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain does exist. The Association has an online presence at http://www.sagb.org.uk/
30 See Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past Life Therapy that Changed Both Their Lives by Dr Brian Weiss, Warner Books.
31 I used several sources to build a ‘hypnosis script’ but an excellent one was available online at http://hypnoticworld.com/scripts/problem_rsolution.asp
32 See http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Chaplains/Communities/Descriptions/hinduism.html
33 See Karma and Reincarnation: The Wisdom of Yogananda, Volume 2 by Paramhansa Yogananda, Crystal Clarity Publishers.
34 A good commentary on the guilt felt by modern Christians in regard to past-life therapy and issues of reincarnation has been written by Dr Michael G. Millett and is available online at http://www.elevated.fsnet.co.uk/index-page14.html
35 Tibetan phrases taken from http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/9594/tibet.html
36 For a detailed account of the historical search for the Dalai Lama, you may visit http://www.tibet.com/DL/discovery.html
37 Detailed astrological and astronomical issues around the birth of Jesus have been taken from http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/gem-projects/hm/0203-1-18-bethlehem.pdf
38 See http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/e-h/herod01.html
39 The itinerary of the holy family when they left Bethlehem can be found at http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/724/tr6.htm
40 See an interesting article on the origins of ritual immersion in water by Prof. M.M. Ninan located at http://www.acns.com/~mm9n/Baptism/601.htm
41 Asoka. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 17th June 2007 .
42 Ptolemy II is mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka as a recipient of the Buddhist proselytism of Ashoka, although no Western historical record of this event remains. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_II_Philadelphus
43 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudhayana. ‘The most notable of the rules in the Baudhâyana Sulba Sutra says: A rope stretched along the length of the diagonal produces an area which the vertical and horizontal sides make together. If this refers to a rectangle, it is the earliest recorded statement of the Pythagorean theorem.’
44 See Pythagoras and the Story Behind the Croton Crown by Adi Kanga & Sam Kerr. It can be found online at www.vohuman.org/Article/Pythagoras%20and%20the%20story%20behind%20the%20Croton%20Crown.htm
45 From Chrishna to Christ by Raymond Bernard, Health Research, 1961.
46 British Library, Online Gallery of Sacred Texts, http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/deadseascrolls.html
47 The Complete World of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Philip R. Davies, Thames & Hudson, 2002.
48 The Gnostic Discoveries: The Impact of the Nag Hammadi Library by Marvin Meyer, Harper San Francisco, 2006.
49 The Refutation of All Heresies, Book One by Antipope Hippolytus, Kessinger Publishing, 2004.
50 Saving the Savior: Did Christ Survive the Crucifixion? by Abubakr Ben Ishmael Salahuddin, Tree of Life Publications, 2001.
51 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondophares
52 See http://www.indianchristianity.com/html/chap4/chapter4c.htm which says: ‘Different reports of this tradition have come down to us. T
he earliest is recorded by Marco Polo, and that of Bishop John de Marignolli comes next. We reproduce them from Yule’s Marco Polo, 2nd ed., and his Cathay and the Way Thither. Marco Polo (ut supr., vol.ii.p.340): “Now I will tell you the manner in which the Christian brethren who keep the church relate the story of the Saint’s death. They tell the Saint was in the wood outside his hermitage saying his prayers, and round about him were many peacocks, for these are more plentiful in that country than anywhere else. And one of the idolaters of that country being of the lineage of those called Govi that I told you of, having gone with his bow and arrows to shoot peafowl, not seeing the Saint, let fly an arrow at one of the peacocks; and this arrow struck the holy man on the right side, insomuch that he died of the wound, sweetly addressing himself to his creator. Before he came to that place where he thus died, he had been in Nubia, where he converted much people to the faith of Jesus Christ.”’
53 See http://www.sol.com.au/kor/7_01.htm which says: ‘Further clues are cited from The Apocryphal Acts of Thomas, and the Gospel of Thomas which are of Syrian origin and have been dated to the 4th Century A.D., or possibly earlier. They are Gnostic Scriptures and despite the evidence indicating their authenticity, they are not given credence by mainstream theologians. In these texts Thomas tells of Christ’s appearance in Andrapolis, Paphlagonia (today known as in the extreme north of Anatolia) as a guest of the King of Andrappa. There he met with Thomas who had arrived separately. It is at Andrapolis that Christ entreated Thomas to go to India to begin spreading his teachings.’
54 See a contemporary news item online regarding Balakote at http://jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2002/kashmir20020615a.html
55 I found an excellent source for Qur’an research at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/koran/ an electronic version of The Holy Qur’an, translated by M.H. Shakir, Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc., 1983. Most references in the book regarding the Qur’an are taken from here.
56 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermon_on_the_Mount
57 See the Kashmir Information Directory at http://www.samawar.com/content/view/7/20/
58 See http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Nardostachys.html
59 See the history of Buckingham Palace at Royal Residences located online at http://www.royal.gov.uk/OutPut/Page568.asp
60 Actually, the Royal College of Psychiatrists is located at No.17, not No.18, Belgrave Square. Also, the last tenant before the college was Lady Leontine Sassoon, not Lady Clementine Sossoon. Actual history about No. 17 Belgrave Square is located on the College’s website at http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/college/archives/history/historyofbelgravesquare.aspx
61 The Vipassana Research Institute, see http://www.vri.dhamma.org/
62 The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic was taken from http://www.godswillministries.com/prayers.html
63 A description of what Jerusalem looked like during the time period of Jesus was obtained from an excellent article in Time magazine. It can be accessed online at http://www.time.com/time/2001/jerusalem/cover.html
64 For sake of efficiency, I extensively used Babel Fish’s online translation service and found it to be excellent. I cannot be certain of the accuracy of the final translations and if there are any errors, I crave forgiveness. The Babel Fish translator can be used online at http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr
65 See the BBC story on this scientific discovery at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3929471.stm
66 See Sloan-Kettering’s website to find out about the scientific properties of myrrh. Go to http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69309.cfm
67 See http://www.beercook.com/prochefs/markdorber.htm
68 See http://www.tombofjesus.com/indonesian/core/majorplayers/crucifixion/crucifixion-p2.htm
69 Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
70 http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/middlevillage/middlevillage.html
71 http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/b6eb4/a8f71/ for a history of Einsiedeln
72 http://www.hps.com/~tpg/ukdict/ukdict-8.html
73 For further reading regarding the guillotine and the French Revolution, visit Jørn Fabricius’ excellent site at http://www.guillotine.dk
74 Based loosely on the historical Marie Anne Charlotte de Corday D’Armant who was beheaded in 1793 at the guillotine for having murdered Jean-Paul Marat.
75 Excellent background information on the Inca empire at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapa_Inca
76 Background information on the historical figure of Wu Zhao can be accessed at http://www.womenofchina.cn/people/women_in_history/3594.jsp
77 A full chronology of Jesus’s actions post-crucifixion were taken from http://www.westarinstitute.org/Periodicals/4R_Articles/Easter/Chronology/chronology.html
78 See The Meaning of Shinto by J.W.T. Mason, Trafford Publishing, 2006.
79 See the website of the International Center for Reiki Training at http://www.reiki.org/
80 See Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet by Karen Armstrong, Harper San Francisco, 1993.
81 See a paper entitled ‘Jesus in Islam’ by the Islamic Centre of Rochester at http://theicr.org/Jesus%20in%20Islam.pdf
82 See Irenaeus Against Heresies by Irenaeus, Kessinger Publishing, 2004.
83 See details of this recorded encounter at http://www.tombofjesus.com/core/majorplayers/the-tomb/the-tomb-p3.htm
84 See Jesus in India: Being An Account of Jesus’ Escape from Death on the Cross and His Journey to India by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Fredonia Books, 2004.
85 The actual BBC report can be read at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4400957.stm
86 See A Long and Uncertain Journey: The 27,000 Mile Voyage of Vasco Da Gama by Joan Elizabeth Goodman, Mikaya Press, 2001.
87 http://www.keralachurch.com/main_left_right.php?cmd=keralachristianity
88 See The Goa Inquisition: Being a Quarter Centenary Commemoration Study of the Inquisition of India by Anant Kakba Priolkar, South Asia Books.
89 http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1111142225
90 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04610a.htm
91 There is no book called the Tarikh-Issa-Masih. There is reference at http://www.tombofjesus.com/core/majorplayers/the-tomb/the-tomb-p7.htm#marriageandchildren to an old ‘Persian work entitled the Negaris-Tan-i-Kashmir, in which an account of Jesus’s marriage is contained. We will continue trying to get hold of it, and the reader can check from time to time at the website to see if that document has been obtained . . . We have contacted various people, attempting to get hold of this work, including the English translation of the relevant portions. This might be a difficult task, but we are determined to put every effort into securing it. In the meantime, we reproduce below an excerpt from Andreas Faber Kaiser’s Jesus Died in Kashmir, in which Kaiser relates a conversation he had with Mr Basharat Saleem, a man who claims to be a living descendant of Jesus Christ: ‘He told me that to his knowledge the only written source on this subject [of Jesus’s marriage] was the Negaris-Tan-i-Kashmir, an old Persian book that had been translated into Urdu, and that relates that King Shalewahin (the same king as met and conversed with Jesus in the mountains) told Jesus that he needed a woman to take care of him, and offered him his choice of fifty. Jesus replied that he did not need any and that no one was obliged to work for him, but the king persisted until Jesus agreed to employ a woman to cook for him, look after his house and do his washing. Professor Hassnain told me that the woman’s name was Maryan, and that the same book says that she bore Jesus children.’
92 ‘God give me strength to save this book’ in Portuguese.
93 See Was Jesus a Buddhist? at http://www.thezensite.com/non_Zen/Was_Jesus_Buddhist.html
94 See The Security Organs of the Russian Federation at http://www.psan.org/document551.html
95 Loosely based on real-life FBI agent Robert Hanssen who spied for the Russians at the behest of Opus Dei. See http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,
27409,00.html
96 Dr Dawood Omar’s character is based loosely on A.Q. Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He actually did attend the University of Leuven. See profile at http://www.ias-worldwide.org/profiles/prof85.htm
97 See WMD Insights on Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the arrest of A.Q. Khan at http://www.wmdinsights.com/I3/G1_SR_AQK_Network.htm
98 Read the actual Washington Quarterly article at http://www.twq.com/05spring/docs/05spring_albright.pdf
99 Detailed description of Salah taken from http://www.islamawareness.net/Salah/
100 See Saladin: a Benevolent Man, Respected by both Muslims & Christians by the Institute of Arabic & Islamic Studies at http://www.islamic-study.org/Saladin%20(Salahu%20ad-Deen).htm
101 Taken from an actual CNN story. See http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/19/pope.tuesday/index.html
102 Read the actual article at http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/13899
103 See http://www.pipavav.com/a_in.html
104 See A Failure of Imagination (Intelligence, WMDs, and ‘Virtual Jihad’) by Scott Atran, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor located at http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/atran-sct-0406.pdf
105 See Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies by John Hogue, Element Books, 1997.
106 Read Time magazine’s article on the French Intifada at http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1127429,00.html
107 See http://warfare2050.blogspot.com/2007/04/warfare-2050-dictionary-la-triple.html
108 Centre for Defense Information: http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/etim.cfm
109 Uighur phrase for ‘Perfect!’
110 See http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/ji.htm
111 http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/jaish-e-mohammed.htm
112 All planetary positions calculated on http://www.ephemeris.com/ephemeris.php
113 Character loosely based on Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. See http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO405B.html